The odds are stacked firm againstNetflix’sAvatar : The Last Airbender . The new series happen to be an adaptation of one of the most darling animated appearance of the past 30 years , and it is n’t even the first alive - action take on it that Hollywood has get . Fourteen year ago , M. Night Shyamalan’sThe Last Airbenderwas run across with derision from critics and fan alike , and time has n’t been kind to it . The 2010 celluloid ’s repute has only made longtime fans all the more skeptical of the new Netflix adaptation — and their vacillation was only further amplified whenAvatar : The Last Airbendercreators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko parted ways with the project over creative differences in 2020 .
On top of all of that , Hollywood does n’t have the unspoilt track record when it come to alive - action adaptation of anime and anime - adjacent properties . When you take that into consideration , along with just how much visual effects cultivate thatAvatar : The Last Airbender‘s mythical world of fabricated kingdoms and primary benders demands , it ’s easy to see why many have long viewed a live - action , episodic take on the animated serial a hazardous gamble , to say the least . It should get as welcome newsworthiness then thatNetflix‘s ambitiousLast Airbenderadaptation is n’t a double-dyed failure . It is , in fact , perfectlyfine , which may very well be the best that viewers could have possibly hoped for .
incarnation : The Last Airbendertakes place in a world dissever into four separate realms : the Earth , Water , Air , and Fire Kingdoms . Each of the four disparate regions is populated and run by a mix of normal citizen and powerful beings know as “ bender , ” who have the power to bend one element — whether it be ardor , land , body of water , or air — to their will . The kingdoms are meant to be bound in a doubtful pacification by an individual known as “ the Avatar , ” who can deform all four element . The political balance ofAvatar : The Last Airbender‘s fictional world is suddenly thrown into chaos , however , when the Fire Nation begins a tyrannical campaign for world-wide domination .
The Fire Nation ’s mission is earmark to work untold havoc when the domain ’s latest incarnation of the Avatar , a young Airbender named Aang ( Gordon Cormier ) , go missing . A century later , Aang ’s frozen - in - time torso is name by a dyad of Water Nation sibling , Sokka ( Ian Ousley ) and Katara ( Kiawentiio ) . Aang ’s return lead to the three being furiously hunted by Zuko ( Dallas Liu ) , a banished Fire Nation prince who has been assign to becharm the Avatar by his abusive father , Fire Lord Ozai ( Daniel Dae Kim ) . If Aang has any hope of defeating Zuko and the Fire Nation , he quickly realize that he ’ll have to acquire how to bend the piddle , earthly concern , and fire ingredient while on the footrace .
The Last Airbender‘s eight - episode first season is a evenhandedly straight adaptation of its animated herald ’s 20 - installment first appearance season . Despite what some fans may have feared , the Netflix series ’ first batch of episodes does a surprisingly stiff business of contract and combining nearly all of its rootage stuff ’s episodic plots . Showrunner Albert Kim and his squad of writers ascertain frequently inventive room of hitting all the major beat fans could require them to , and they finagle to mob in almost every noteworthy part fromAvatar : The Last Airbender‘s first season . Some mo — such as a midseason group meeting between Aang and one of his Avatar predecessors — feel jam-packed in , but for the most part , Netflix’sLast Airbenderadaptation successfully delivers a more flowing version of its predecessor ’s first season .
Ultimately , the live - action serial ’ biggest struggles have less to do with its plotting and more with the hard tonal balancing act that it forces itself to execute . The Netflix show is brilliant , glistening , and over - the - top in both its styleandits dark . The series ’ first season is more unflinchingly fell than its animated counterpart , but as striking as that initially is , The Last Airbendercan only show so many quality being horrifyingly burned alive before a tonic disconnection emerges between its confect - colored aesthetic and its wider thematic concern .
What partly define Kim and companionship ’s take onThe Last Airbender‘s story is how persistently they focus on the acerbity that many of the characters Aang receive feel toward him for — whether intentionally or not — abandoning the world for 100 years . That conclusion immediately lends the Netflix series a level of unflinching emotional realism that the original animate show gradually grew into , but it also demands that the live - action adaptation change specific things about its source material ’s secret plan that it seems unwilling to alter . An important fight between Aang and an older Earth Kingdom drawing card named Bumi ( Utkarsh Ambudkar ) , for example , is filled with much more anger than longtime sports fan may expect . Nonetheless , the serial publication still have Ambudkar ’s Bumi await just as ridiculous as his animate herald ( white , overgrown armpit hair and all ) .
The Last Airbender‘s unwavering adhesion to its source textile ’s visual way is commendable but , at times , mind - boggling . Potentially compelling fictional character like Bumi are render inefficient by the gap between their stories and the cartoonish levels of fuzz , makeup , and prosthetics that are piled on top of them . That ’s specially true for Amber Midthunder ’s Princess Yue , whose narrative importance is overshadow by one of the bad wigs that has ever been have on a mainstream television series . Like its costuming and makeup work , The Last Airbender‘s CGI similarly cast from veneration - root on to downright ugly . The show reckon far more visually pleasing than it has any right to , yield its budgetary constraint , but there ’s still an incomprehensible sheen that covers its entire world , which calls to mind the glossy , uncanny esthetical that Peter Jackson play to his Hobbit motion-picture show ( specifically , 2014 ’s lacklusterThe Hobbit : The Battle of the Five Armies ) .
In spite of the Netflix serial ’ tonal and ocular flaws , its core cast members try out to be well - suited for their roles . Cormier slow but for sure cement himself acrossThe Last Airbender‘s first season as a perfect fit for Aang , while Liu and Paul Sun - Hyung Lee turn in the show ’s skilful operation as Zuko and his supportive , wise uncle , Iroh , respectively . Ken Leung also stand out as Commander Zhao , who is wisely limn in the alive - legal action serial as a smarmier and more scrumptiously cunning villain than the animated translation of him . Of the young show ’s central performers , only Kiawentiio struggles to fill out her theatrical role by failing to bring Katara ’s unmistakable spirit and agonistic glint fully to life on - filmdom .
What do all of these shortcomings and highlight amount to ? An version ofAvatar : The Last Airbenderthat is n’t a full - throated success , nor a complete , Cowboy Bebop - sized calamity . The serial repeatedly essay itself capable of matching the scope and mythic - sized storytelling of its author material , but it also falls short of its standards in several room . Consequently , while both fans and first - time viewers would be better off sticking with the original animated series , those who do retard out Netflix’sAvatar : The Last Airbenderwill find themselves experience an adaptation that does n’t quite soar , but does just enough rightfulness to still get off the earth .
Avatar : The Last Airbenderseason 1 is streaming now on Netflix . Digital Trends was give former memory access to all of the time of year ’s eight episodes .
